Worth the Trouble

by Becky McGraw

  Kissing the top of her head, he hugged her tight. "You're gonna be fine, sweetheart, we'll be fine, we just need to keep moving. I have a feeling they'll come looking for us in the morning, since we haven't checked in since we left camp this afternoon, and they can't get us on the radio."

  "I sure hope so, because I think we're lost too," she mumbled against his chest.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Finally, after they'd walked what felt like fifty miles, but had actually only gone probably a mile and a half, the sun started coming up over the mesas. In the light of day, they found that they were actually very near one of the mesas. By sheer luck, Ethan located a shallow cave that didn't require much of a climb for them to get inside.

  Ethan had been thrilled to find not one, but two silver space blankets in Reed's saddle bags. Rocky said she had no idea what they were when she picked them up from the supply table, but she thought they looked important, so she grabbed two. Bless her soul, because now both she and Amelia were warm and cuddled up sleeping at the back of the cave, while Ethan sat at the entrance standing watch with the shotgun.

  Not that he thought they would be attacked or anything, but you could never be too careful. There were wild animals, and wilder people, in this park sometimes. Those boys who took Amelia for a joyride were just a minor instance of that.

  The search crew would probably be looking for them soon anyway, so he didn't dare go to sleep himself. But damned if he didn't want to. His eyes burned as bad as his muscles hurt, just sitting here was making the stiffness and soreness worse. Maybe he could go spread his legs and hunt down something for them to eat, once the girls woke up.

  Because what he hadn't found in the saddle bags was food, not even one power bar was left, or even a bottle of water. Evidently, Rocky hadn't lied when she said she'd dumped their supplies when she made a life preserver for him out of the supply bag. Thank goodness, the space blankets hadn't been in that bag.

  Since they had plenty of shotgun shells, he felt sure he could kill some game for them to eat. He had even found a lighter in the saddle bag, so he could make a fire too. The only reason he hadn't yet, was because he was just too damned tired to go gather wood.

  Rocky was right, yesterday had been too much.

  He would let them sleep for a couple of hours, but they needed to keep moving. Wes had said that tonight would be below freezing, and none of them had proper clothing. Ethan was shirtless and shoeless, Rocky didn't have shoes either and wore a thin shirt, and little Amelia was in her pajamas without shoes.

  All three of them making it back to base camp quickly under those conditions was going to be impossible. Likely, they would be out here tonight and could end up with hypothermia. Those space blankets would only go so far. Since they only had one horse, they had no choice but to walk back if they all three traveled together.

  All in all it was a bad situation at best.

  His only option to try and save them all was to send Rocky and Amelia off by themselves. Not something he wanted to do, but Rocky was resourceful, he was sure she could find her way back, or at least get to a main trail that would lead her back to the park.

  She could send help back for him.

  His plan was the most logical way to try and save them. Ethan was the most capable of surviving out here. He knew he was going to have a hard time convincing Rocky they should split up, but hopefully the stubborn cowgirl would listen to reason.

  Ethan spent the rest of the morning making survival plans for himself, catching himself nodding off now and again. A hand on his shoulder woke him up from his latest nod, and panic shot through him.

  "Okay, my turn to watch out, your turn to sleep," Rocky told him, kneeling beside him.

  "I need to talk to you," Ethan told her meeting her eyes.

  "You need to sleep, you're exhausted and won't be worth anything if you don't catch some shut eye," she told him calmly.

  "I need--" he tried again, but couldn't finish around a large yawn, which took over his whole body.

  "Sleep, Ethan," she told him firmly and squeezed his shoulder.

  Yawning again, he realized she was right. "Just an hour, wake me up, this is important," he instructed.

  "Sure, just an hour," she agreed then sat down and reached for the shotgun.

  It slid from under his fingers at the same speed his eyes drifted down. Leaning his shoulder against the side of the small cave opening, he fell asleep. He wasn't sure, but as he drifted off he thought he felt a light kiss on his bare shoulder.

  His stomach rumbling woke him up, when he opened his eyes and looked around, Rocky was gone and the sun was almost straight up overhead. He almost hoped she had thought things through herself and had taken Amelia and headed off on her own. She had definitely let him sleep more than an hour he realized, it was almost noon, and they probably wouldn't make it back to base camp before dark, even if they left now.

  Ethan stretched stiffly, stifling another yawn, then groaned when his sore muscles and back seized up for a second. Turning he saw that Amelia was still at the back of the cave cuddled up under the space blanket.

  So where the hell was Rocky, he wondered as he leaned outside the cave and used the rock face to help himself stand. Stepping farther outside he shaded his eyes against the bright sun and scanned the wide open field to the stand of mesquite trees and brush on the north side. He didn't see Rocky and he didn't see Reed, and sure hoped like hell she hadn't played Lone Ranger and taken off to find help on her own, leaving him here defenseless with the little girl.

  Considering that for a second, he realized she would never do that and breathed a sigh of relief. No, she might have had to use the bathroom, or gone to find food, but she would never have left them out here.

  First she was too smart to head out on her own without them, secondly she had bonded with that little girl last night, and he almost thought she saw some of herself in the tough child. Besides, the woman had almost killed herself to save him last night, why would she leave him to die now without food and a gun to hunt any?

  She wouldn't, he reaffirmed to himself. But where the hell was she?

  He heard the crinkling of the space blanket behind him, and Amelia stirred, then said, "Miss Rocky? I'm hungry."

  Ethan stooped and crawled back inside then went over to her. "Miss Rocky went to find us something to eat," he told her. At least that's what he hoped Rocky was doing. Fear that maybe she had gotten hurt somewhere shot through him.

  Calm down, Ethan, she can take care of herself. If there was one thing he knew for sure, it was that, and she had the shotgun with her.

  "Just go back to sleep, sweetheart, she'll be back in a few minutes and we'll all have breakfast together. I'll wake you up," he told her and stroked her hair.

  "Okay," she told him with a wide yawn. "But I have to go to the bathroom too."

  Ethan barely held back a groan, because he knew next to nothing about little girls, but what he did know is they liked privacy for their bathroom breaks. That was something they were going to have a hard time finding. They were in a cave, and the mesa was smack dab in the middle of a field. The nearest trees were a good half mile away.

  "You'll have to make do with hiding behind a rock, is that gonna work?" he asked, then offered, "I'll turn my head and you go, okay?"

  She nodded, then they crawled out of the front of the cave and he took her hand and led her down the rocks to a large boulder, then turned his back. After a couple of minutes, he wondered exactly what she was doing and turned to find out.

  "Don't move or I'm going to have to shoot the girl," a deep gruff voice he recognized as that of Mr. Thomas, Brad's daddy said behind him. Ethan tensed and fought the urge to turn around. His fists clenched at his sides as fear shot through him.

  Ethan wondered how the hell the man had snuck up on him, or even found them. He was sure the man hadn't come on foot, they were out in the middle of nowhere, at least ten miles from civilization. He must've seen Ethan at the mouth of the cave
while he was sleeping like the dead. As lightly as Ethan usually slept, it was amazing that he hadn't heard him approach.

  Mr. Thomas must've somehow been tracking them since they left base camp to catch up with them here. How he had crossed that creek on an ATV and followed them up that steep embankment at the creek, Ethan didn't know.

  He must also know Rocky was with them, might have hurt her when she left the cave. Panic shot through him and he swallowed it back, because Ethan knew now was not the time for panic. Now, above all other times, he needed to keep his head straight.

  "Mr. Ethan, who is this man?" Amelia asked, her tiny voice shaking. "Why does he want to hurt us?"

  "He doesn't want to hurt you, baby. It's me he wants, isn't that right Mr. Thomas?" Ethan hoped that the inspector had all the evidence he needed against the man, because if the man killed him, he at least wanted him to be caught. "Let her go...she'll find her way back to the trail," Ethan suggested. "I'll go with you wherever you want me to go."

  "You'll go anyway, asshole," he said with a snort. Ethan wanted to turn around so bad to assess the situation, determine if the man had a gun, it was all he could do to remain with his back to the man.

  A metallic click was all he needed to hear to let him know the man wasn't bluffing. "Put your hands behind your back, or I'll put a bullet in her head then yours."

  Ethan's fists clenched tighter, because he knew if he complied, let the man bind his wrists, he wouldn't be able to protect himself or Amelia, and both of them would probably wind up dead anyway.

  "No way," Ethan told him, then promised, "If you shoot her, by the time the smoke clears I'll break your fricking neck."

  "Why the hell couldn't you just die," Mr. Thomas grumbled, then threatened, "Do it or I'll shoot you instead, then I'll shoot her." he threatened.

  Ethan moved his wrists behind his back and gritted his teeth. Amelia would have no chance of surviving this if he didn't do what the man wanted him to do. She had seen him, could identify him, so the odds were he would shoot her, if he killed Ethan.

  "Why are you doing all of this, Mr. Thomas? I didn't kill Jimmy," Ethan asked as he felt a zip tie being looped around his wrists. He kept them as far apart as he could to maintain some slack, but the man yanked viciously as he secured the tie.

  "Don't say his name!" Mr. Thomas growled then yanked the zip tie again making it cut into Ethan's flesh. "You did kill him, you were jealous of him, because he was a better firefighter than you. You let him burn in that warehouse," he accused.

  "Mr. Thomas the second floor was unstable, we all knew that, but Jimmy went up there anyway. I tried to save him when that floor fell through, but I couldn't hold him. Jimmy was not a small man," Ethan told him.

  "No, he was a bull, he should have gone pro in football, but that damned coach wouldn't give him a chance," he grumbled.

  Because you wouldn't stay out of it and keep your damned mouth shut, was on the tip of Ethan's tongue.

  "I went up there after him when he went up the stairs without telling anyone, Mr. Thomas. I was trying to help him," Ethan told him.

  "Your father sent him up there," Mr. Thomas corrected. "He sent him up there knowing that floor was not stable. Because Jimmy was expendable, his own son was not."

  "That's not true, he told us all not to go up there," Ethan persisted. "But Jimmy didn't listen, he wanted to play Superman and find that electrical room."

  "You let him go up there, and your daddy let him go up there, you killed my son!" he shouted and Ethan flinched. "In a damned empty building that was gone anyway."

  It was obvious the man was having some sort of break with reality, his voice was saturated with crazy, and it scared the shit out of Ethan, because you couldn't reason with crazy. Things were definitely not looking good for him, or Amelia.

  "Now, move your ass down those rocks, and no funny stuff, or I will shoot both of you and save myself the trouble of making it slow and painful."

  Ethan knew if that was his plan, he might have some time to figure something out, or he hoped he would. Saving them was all on him now, since Rocky was nowhere to be found. He was glad at least she wasn't in the middle of this mess. He had been right to worry about her though, and was glad even though he was stupid enough to pair himself up with her for the search, she might still come out alive.

  Maybe she would meet up with that search party that so far hadn't shown up, he thought and sat down, then scooted over the uneven rocks to get to the bottom of the mesa and stand.

  "Move girl," Mr. Thomas told Amelia and Ethan heard a whimper that made him itch to kill the man. That little girl had been through enough mental trauma without this.

  "Let her go, Mr. Thomas," he begged. "She isn't a threat to you."

  "She knows who I am now, you've said my damned name enough times," he replied, then Amelia's pajama top brushed his hands as she stood beside him.

  Ethan cursed his stupidity. The man was right, he should have thought about that.

  "Walk," Mr. Thomas told him and Ethan felt the gun barrel at his back. Swallowing down both his disgust at himself and fear, he started forward with Amelia walking right beside him. Something metallic caught his eye when the sun hit it, and Ethan saw the handlebar of an ATV showing behind a large boulder at the side of the mesa.

  "How the hell did you find us out here?" Ethan asked, because he was damned curious. "We crossed that creek, and I know it's flooded now, and that rock face was too steep for you to climb on an ATV."

  "I came in the other way. GPS trackers are a wonderful thing," he informed. "When your girlfriend and her shotgun left a few minutes ago, I figured it was now or never."

  "She's not my girlfriend," Ethan protested, with relief washing through him that Rocky wasn't hurt. He didn't want to give this man any reason to go after Rocky.

  At least she was safe.

  "Well ya'll looked awfully cozy in that tent last night," he replied with a snigger. "Glad I brought night vision goggles with me and saw ya'll, or that other horse running off would have probably thrown me off track."

  "You didn't get caught in the flood?"

  "No, but I thought mother nature was going to save me the trouble of killing you," he replied. "I was high and dry watching."

  If the man was on a mesa, he was damned lucky he hadn't been struck by lightning. Ethan cursed mother nature for not taking care of this maniac for him.

  "How did you even know I'd be here?" His son didn't even know Ethan was on the search and rescue team until he got to the park.

  "Someone saw you at that class in Lubbock and mentioned it to me last night. You'd be surprised how many friends Jimmy had. Now stop talking, and start walking, boy," Mr. Thomas told him with a shove to his back.

  Ethan stumbled forward and headed across the field toward the trees, moving as slow as he could, because he wanted to buy himself some time to think.

  Rocky sighted a squirrel up in the trees and pulled Reed to a stop. Waiting for the squirrel to settle on a branch, she lined up the bead at the end of her shotgun with the animal's midsection, braced for the recoil, then pulled the trigger. Branches crashed as it fell through them to land with a thud on the ground.

  She threw her leg over Reed's back then slid do the ground then walked over to pick it up by the tail. Breakfast, she thought with a smile, walking back to Reed to put the dead squirrel in the saddle bag. A woodsman's gourmet breakfast. A couple more of them and they could all eat, she thought and remounted Reed.

  Hearing a click that sounded an awful lot like a gun being cocked echo through the quiet woods, Rocky tensed and Reed's ears perked up. Hefting her shotgun higher under her arm in case she needed to use it quickly, Rocky knelt behind Reed and scanned the trees around her, until she saw movement off to the left behind a tree.

  Sighting the gun on the tree, she yelled, "Haul your ass out here with your hands up."

  "No, you throw down your gun and put your hands up," a deep male voice echoed through the woods.

  Rock
y snorted. "Not likely asshole. Looks like we have a Mexican standoff, and I have all day," she told him without letting her aim waver.

  "Who are you?" the man asked, and she heard him uncock the gun, which lowered her hackles a little.

  "Roxanne Baker," she informed. "Who the hell are you?"

  "Brad Thomas," he replied then added, "I'm here with the Texas Task Force, we're out here searching for a little girl. Well the team is, I'm looking for my father."

  "Ethan and I found her, and we're trying to get back to base camp."

  "Why haven't ya'll reported in?" Brad asked angrily, then added, "Half the team is out looking for you."

  "Our radio fell into the creek," she told him, then lowered the hammer on her shotgun back in place. "And my cell phone got wet."

  "Don't shoot, I'm coming out," he told her, then stepped out from behind the tree.

  Rocky eyeballed him warily, but when she saw him holster his weapon, she stood up and walked around Reed, then cracked open the barrel of her gun, and replaced the shell she had used on the squirrel. They stared at each other for a second, then Brad asked with concern in his voice, "Where's Ethan?"

  "We found a cave on the mesa and slept there for a couple of hours. He's sleeping, I came out here to find food. We lost our supplies," she informed him with a huffed breath.

  Brad Thomas's dark eyebrows slammed together over his eyes then he asked gruffly, "He let you come out here by yourself?"

  One side of her mouth kicked up and Rocky repeated, "Let me?"

  Intent eyes ran up and down her body then settled on her shotgun, before moving up again. "Yeah, looks like you can take care of yourself," he revised, then added with a chuckle, "Bet that's a shocker for lover boy."

  "Why would that be a surprise?" she asked curiously.

  "Sarah, hell all the women he dated before, and there have been plenty, were far from being able to do that. Ethan has a hero complex, so he likes that type."

  That definitely didn't surprise Rocky. Just like she'd thought before, this was confirmation that Ethan liked soft, needy women who let him take care of them. He needed to be needed, and Rocky was definitely not that type.